Students With Disabilities Get Mixed Results on Mask Mandates

Parents of students with disabilities in Iowa and South Carolina received mixed results Tuesday in cases alleging state provisions barring mask mandates in public schools violate their children’s rights under federal disability bias laws.

The cases are examples of litigation throughout the country contesting the validity of state laws, executive orders, and health department initiatives either requiring—or barring schools from requiring—that students, teachers, and staff wear masks while in school buildings to help stop the spread of Covid-19.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld—but narrowed—an injunction blocking state officials from enforcing a law prohibiting universal masking ...